Monthly Archives: October 2020
The wrong way?
I’ve just seen a man riding a customised bike up Tottenham Court Road with two children on board, one in front of the handlebars the other as a pillion passenger, none wearing head protection, and no rear lights in the dark.
Protected: Pseudonyms and Me
London in Quotations: Charles Dickens
The appearance presented by the streets of London an hour before sunrise, on a summer’s morning, is most striking even to the few whose unfortunate pursuits of pleasure, or scarcely less unfortunate pursuits of business, cause them to be well acquainted with the scene. There is an air of cold, solitary desolation about the noiseless streets which we are accustomed to see thronged at other times by a busy, eager crowd, and over the quiet, closely-shut buildings, which throughout the day are swarming with life and bustle, that is very impressive.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870), Sketches by Boz
London Trivia: Heckled by a parrot
On 25 October 1961, Britain’s top satirical magazine was launched from Willie Rushton’s mothers home in Scarsdale Villas. The publication of corny text, printed on yellow paper would develop into Private Eye, which today has a circulation of over ¼ million for its bi-weekly editions. Still published in London it has been edited since 1986 by Ian Hislop and today is better known for its investigative journalism into under-reported scandals.
On 25 October 1400 Geoffrey Chaucer author of Canterbury Tales died, he was the first writer interred in Poets’ Corner at Westminster Abbey
Cellars at The Mason’s Arms, Upper Berkeley Street were used as cells for those to be hanged at Tyburn to which there is a connecting tunnel
St Paul’s Cathedral is the fifth built on the site of a Roman temple dedicated to Diana, the first church was constructed around 604 AD
Charliatan, Dr. Bossey entertained vast crowds in Covent Garden, but decamped when heckled by who he believed to be a dissatisfied patient, in fact it was a parrot
King Charles I was the last monarch ever to enter the Chamber of The House of Commons. Today the monarch addresses Parliament in the House of Lords
William Hogarth’s Times of Day: Night shows 18th century magistrate Thomas de Veil being soaked by urine on Charing Cross Road
Pimms was invented in 1823 at 3 Poultry at the Pimm’s Oyster Rooms as an aid to digestion serving it in a small tankard known as a No. 1 Cup
London’s oldest swimming club is the Serpentine SC, founded in 1864, unusually it didn’t adopt first and second class swims
The Rocket inventor Robert Stevenson proposed the Thames Viaduct Railway a steel structure for trains to travel along the river’s centre
The majority of workers at Mortons Jam factory were of Scottish origin, this is where the famous blue & white colours of Millwall originated
The 1,800 people a year granted The Freedom of The City of London can if they should wish herd a gaggle of geese down Cheapside
Trivial Matter: London in 140 characters is taken from the daily Twitter feed @cabbieblog.
A guide to the symbols used here and source material can be found on the Trivial Matter page.
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